We're going to read verses 1 through 15, and pray that the Lord would speak to us here. Proverbs 25, starting in verse 1, and we'll read the entire section, 1 to 15. These are the Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable. Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel. Take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, come up here, than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. What your eyes have seen, do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end when your neighbor puts you to shame? Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another secret, lest he who hears you bring shame upon you, and your ill repute have no end. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear. Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him. he refreshes the soul of his masters. Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give. With patience a ruler may be persuaded and a soft tongue will break a bone. May the Lord guide our time as we examine his word today. One of the most popular verses of the Bible in the world would be Matthew chapter 7 verse 1, at least the first half, which says, Judge not. It's very interesting when you talk to people that don't believe in the Word of God, that have no reverence for the Word of God, that don't believe in the credibility of the Word of God. As soon as you and I challenge them on the Word of God or with the Word of God, automatically their minds are drawn to, doesn't the Bible say don't judge? All of a sudden, the unbeliever takes something from the Word of God and seems to believe it in that moment in order to win an argument. It's quite ironic. The Bible does say, judge not, as was read in our opening scripture this morning, but it goes on to say, lest you be judged. Jesus himself says in John 17 to judge righteous judgment. Every one of us judges. Now, I know every word has a sort of denotation, so when we think of the word judgment, automatically, especially in this day and age, we're drawn to a semblance of intolerance and judgmentalism. But that is not the only aspect in which the word can be used. To judge simply means to formulate an opinion about something. It means to draw a conclusion. to look at two sides of a story, two sides of a situation, and be able to formulate the truth, to distinguish between good and evil. Everyone does it. You know, when we as Christians confront a relative, so-called tolerant society, and we make absolute declarations, we say, this is sin, or this is truth, and they say, you're not supposed to say those things. They don't realize that the phrase, you're not supposed to say those things, is a statement of truth in and of itself. Everyone's making judgments. When they say, you're a judgmental Christian, they're judging you. You can't escape the fact that judgment exists. That we all have to make judgments. When the stoplight is red, you judge to stop. If you kept rolling forward and got hit by a car, another car, we would say you had bad judgment. God forbid we get to a point where we actually do away with judgment. The Bible does not say never judge. What the Bible does is it teaches us how to judge. It tells us as Christians that we ought to use wisdom in judging. We ought to use discernment in judging. We ought to judge with a certain manner of life and a manner of heart. And the book of Proverbs is extremely instructive for us in this manner. Proverbs teaches us how to do life well. And it talks about every part of life, the home, the workplace, and in our text this morning, in the palace. When we talk about this text, I want you to imagine a sort of a palace scene, the king on his throne, and various people coming before the king. And the interesting thing about this text is that God himself has high standards, not only for the king, but for everyone who comes before the king. which tells us that no one is without excuse, that the call for wisdom is for everyone, not just for kings. Look at verse number two of our text. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings to search things out. Look at verse number five. Take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. Certainly God is a high standard. He is telling the king to exercise wisdom, to reveal truth, and to establish his throne in righteousness. But then it says in verse 6, if you'll look with me, So, whereas the common folk might say, God has his rules of judging for the king, but I'm just a citizen. It doesn't apply to me. God says, no, I hold you to high standards as well. All of God's subjects, you know, the king is subject to the ultimate king. have to bow before God and take his instruction no matter what lot in life they may have been given by the Lord. So God has high expectations for the kings, the rulers, your boss, the people that are over you, but God also has expectations for each and every one of us. So let's take a look at some of those things beginning with God's expectations for the king's judgment. Verses 2 and 3 tell us, It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings to search things out. As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable. Now here the king is compared to and contrasted with God. God's kingdom and the king's kingdom. How does God serve or how does God implement things in his kingdom? How should justice be served in his kingdom? How should justice be served in the king's kingdom? Well first let's understand that God is God. God's rule is higher than any king. You know, we're going to have an election in just a few short months, right? It doesn't matter who's elected in the White House. Because Jesus Christ will be king no matter what. God is king. And it's His glory, it says, to conceal things. And what that means is that God's ways are past finding out. We learned that in the New Testament. Yes, God delights making himself known, but if we can just confine God to a box in a mathematical equation, would he really be worthy of worship? Would we really sing, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, if I could figure God out in just a few sentences? It is the glory of God to conceal things. And yet, It also delights God to reveal things. And He reveals things through certain subjects. One of whom in this Old Testament period was the king. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter number 17. In Deuteronomy 17, this is the expectations that God gives for His kings. Deuteronomy 17 verse 18. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law approved by the Levitical priests, and it shall be with him. And he shall read it in all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel. God has very high expectations for the king. When we think of a king, we might think of just ruling and planning wars, but God says the first and foremost rule is that they know the Word of God. That they understand the oracles of God and keep that before them day and night so that they can walk in those things and then communicate God's truth to the people. So the king was in a sense a vessel to take that which God has concealed and then reveal it to their subjects. And this is an awesome, awesome thing to be charged with. If you have the privilege of being a steward of the mysteries of God, like a king, you have been given something that the world desires to look into. In Matthew chapter 16, Simon Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ and Jesus says, The prophets all throughout the Old Testament, the word of the Lord came to me, the word of the Lord came to me. And sometimes we take this for granted because you and I, we have more than the prophets had. We have more than Peter had. We have the Word of God, the canonical 66 books of the Old and New Testaments preserved for us, given to us, so that we can meditate in it day and night. We are, in a sense, like kings because we can reveal those things to other people. You can take that which God has concealed and reveal it to your co-worker. You can take that which God has concealed and reveal it to your brother or sister in Christ. This is an enormous privilege we have because Thousands of years ago, in Proverbs chapter 25, this was limited to the kings and the prophets, but now it has been revealed to all of us. Verse 3 says, "...as the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable." The king's plans and his decisions are beyond the comprehension of the common people. We live in a society where we can analyze every act our mayors do, and our governors do, and our presidents do, and we can compare it to the Constitution, and we can listen to the pundits and analyze and say, they were wrong on this, they were wrong on that. That privilege wasn't necessarily true in the days of the Old Testament. The kings had certain expectations and the people followed and they didn't always know what the kings were doing and why they were making those decisions. There were things that they would administer that were above their heads and too deep for them. And the king's heart, it says, is unsearchable because he is a representative of God. He was inscrutable and sometimes inscrutability is necessary to keep a firm grip on power. You don't always know why rulers do things, but if they exercise righteous judgment, you can trust their leadership. That's our hope and it applies to us because growing up we had rulers in our lives, didn't we? Our parents. And they didn't always make sense to us, did they? And those of you who are still under your parents probably can agree that some of the rules my parents make don't make any sense. And maybe you're right a little bit. But when your parents set a curfew and you don't understand why there's a curfew, maybe when you become a parent you'll realize why there was a curfew. When I was a teenager, I went through a morbid, we're all going to die anyway phase. I don't know if this is common for all teenagers. My mom would ask me to take the garbage out and I'd say, we're all going to die anyway. Make your bed. We're all going to die anyway. It didn't matter if my bed was made because we're all going to die anyway. I don't know what your excuse might be when you were a teenager or a preteen or a toddler, but it doesn't always make sense. Why clean my room? Why make my bed? I'm going to unmake it anyway. Well, I deal with this as a teacher in school. Students don't understand why we assign seats until two people are talking incessantly and you have to separate them. Oh, then it makes sense why we assign seats. They may not understand why we don't allow cell phones in the school or why we have to walk in single file quietly down the steps when there's a fire drill. But they come to discover at one point or another that these rules are made in righteousness. They're made for a reason, even though at the time, as kids, we don't quite understand. And all of us can probably relate to our own jobs, right? I'm sure that oftentimes we have a complaining spirit. We go home and we say, I don't understand these rules of my job. If I were the boss, I would do it this way. And maybe you're right. But there have probably been times where you have complained about certain rules at your job and you come to realize that they were there for a reason. We can all think of things that don't make sense, but the truth is many do. And this is what the Bible is communicating to the common people under Israel, that if a king was in the word of God, if he was walking with God in righteousness, then his judgments might be past finding out. They might be unsearchable, but they are ultimately for the good of the people. And this, as a Christian, speaks to me and you because it's like trusting God's will. God is not always going to reveal the why or the hidden curriculum. He's not always going to tell us why this situation happened and why that situation happened. Perhaps He will in due time, but trusting the Lord is to trust His character, to know that He never ceases to be good. And if He brings you through a trial and you don't like the trial, to rest on the promises of God that that trial was ordained for your good and His glory. His ways are past finding out. You may never figure out exactly why He brought that person into your life, why He allowed you to go through that illness, why you suffered that loss, but you can rest assured that God is good, and He never ceases to be good, and He works all things for the good of those who love Him and the glory of His name. Solomon prayed for this wisdom in 1 Kings chapter 3 and the Lord gave him this wisdom and I believe this is what he's communicating to his children here in chapter 25. Another thing that kings do to righteously judge is that they diligently plan things out. Verse three tells us that the heart of kings is unsearchable. While the people may not understand all his laws and all his decrees, what they don't realize is that he went through perhaps a lot of counsel and a lot of thinking and praying in order to make those laws. This reminds me of Luke chapter 14, and I'll just read this here for sake of time, where Jesus says, And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." It was expected that kings would diligently plan out their actions. And this speaks again to righteous judgment. That judgment isn't done just in anger. Judgment isn't just a reaction. How many of us, in disciplining our kids or in speaking with someone with whom we have conflict, do so out of a reaction, do so out of an anger, do so out of, my feelings were hurt and so I will hurt you back. The good king does nothing out of mere harsh and hasty reaction. He plans things out just like Jesus described in Luke chapter 14. And so he reveals the truth to us, he plans things out, but in order for his judgments to be righteous, he also has to be holy himself. Look at verse number five. We talked a lot about this in our apologetics course downstairs. This is so important. You can have all the answers. You could know the ins and outs of every false religion and cult. You could know the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation and be able to communicate it. But if you're not living a life of holiness, Your testimony has undone volumes of what you can write and what you can say. And this convicts me and it should convict all of us. Before we get on our high horse of judging, of saying that's right and that's wrong, just like we had in our opening prayer today, to remember before we take that which is in our brother's eye out, to also look and examine ourselves. The refiner's pure vessel, right here in verse 5, illustrates the king's pure, valuable, and above all, enduring throne. Without holiness, you lose credibility and judgment. How many preachers, how many high-profile Christian authors, who have had so much influence, have fallen, and because of their moral falls, have undone books they've written, sermons they've preached. And you might say, well, I'm not a high-profile person. But you know what it's like at the workplace when you say something that isn't very Christian. How much your co-workers notice that. They may not notice every time you bow your head in prayer, or they might, they might make fun of you for it. But as soon as you say something or do something that is not consistent with what they know about Christianity, you've undermined your testimony. The king could be planning out his righteous judgments. He could be right in his decrees, but if he's not holy, and we see this all throughout the Old Testament, he will bring shame upon the throne, and we could bring shame upon the name of Christ. But this is not just for the king. As I said before, we have been given such a privilege We don't have to be a king to know the Word of God. We don't have to be a king to understand this and make judgments. And so for every believer in this room, we have the privilege and the responsibility to look at that which is false and call it false. We have the responsibility to guard what is true. We have the responsibility to assess situations. As a friend comes up to you and says, I'm going through this battle, we have a responsibility to respond, to judge righteously. What will we do with that? In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, we're told we've been given the Spirit. And so, I know that we're not kings in here. Don't tune this message out because the rest of this is for all of us. And that's what verse 6 tells us. Look at verse 6. Just right there, it reminds us that this chapter is not just for kings. It's now addressing those who would go before the king. Those who stand before the king. This could be someone coming to court to settle a dispute, someone who's a messenger or a courier. And what are some of the principles for us and how we should handle judgment? Well, the first thing is that we need to be humble. We need to be absolutely humble. Look at verse six again. Trying to promote oneself. That's what this is talking about. This could bring on public humiliation, but it would be an honor to have everyone in court hear the promotion by the king. That's what he's saying. It's better for you to just be faithful and at one day be told, come up here, than for you to promote yourself in front of the king and in front of the audience and say, you know, I'm called to be the leader. I'm called to do this. And we do this even in our own Christian lives. If we're faithful, Jesus says, those who are faithful in little will be faithful in much. You don't have to push your way to the top. Matter of fact, if you desire or you're ambitious to the top, it probably indicates there's a lack of humility in your heart. Jesus spoke about this in the wedding. If you want to look with me in Luke chapter 14, there's a parallel passage here. in Luke chapter 14, verse 7 through 10. We'll start with verse eight. This is a parallel passage to what we just read. If you start out thinking that you're all that and you deserve the highest place of honor, and then people watch your fall, you will have a hard time recovering from that. But if you begin humbly and you are promoted, well then to regard that as a blessing from the Lord. If you are called to lead, to teach, to exercise authority, don't push yourself to that point. Let God do it. In Mark chapter 9, the disciples, they argued, who's the greatest, right? And Jesus said it would be the one who puts himself puts others before themselves. That's who are the greatest. And so when you're making judgments, when you're speaking to someone about their situation, when you're talking about what's true and what's false, do not forget this extremely important thing of humility. Secondly, going back to our text in Proverbs chapter 25, caution and preparation, verses 7 to 8. or we'll start with verse 8. It says, There should be volumes written on this. Being hasty to judgment. As I started in the beginning saying, the Bible doesn't say don't judge, but it tells us how to judge. And one rule we find right here is to never judge hastily. Never judge quickly. We are not to be quick to judge. It says here in verse 8, what your eyes have seen, right? But as one commentator says, yeah, you may have eyewitnessed something, but perhaps you only have a keyhole view. You have to get the larger context. You may have heard something someone said or seen something someone did. But bearing with one another necessitates patience. It necessitates that we don't come into court or come into making a decision hastily. And then verse 9 and 10. This is pretty self-explanatory. It's just like Matthew 18. Jesus says, you have a problem with a brother, first take it to them. before you broadcast to the world what you think that they did wrong, and you find out that you were wrong, you were inaccurate, then your ill repute will have no end. One commentator says, the considerate Christian will rather concede rights than insist upon them to the hazard of his own soul and to the injury of the church. So when you are about to pronounce judgment, here's what it's saying. Think before you act. Is it worth it? Be like the king who counts the cost. Before you post something, before you email something, before you confront someone, before you tell someone else about someone, I mean, this gossip can spread. If strife is inevitable, if conflict is inevitable, if confrontation is necessary, then you must confront, but make sure that you follow these principles. And then do so seeking other people's good. As he says, don't reveal someone's secret. Don't gossip about them. Esteem others better than yourselves. And then verse 10 says to watch your reputation because your ill repute might have no end. Just like the king could lose his credibility, so can you and me. The concern here is that in arguing with one person, a secret about another might be divulged, perhaps deliberately in an attempt to clear oneself. The point then is about damaging a friendship by involving the friend without necessity or warrant in someone else's quarrel. You see, all of this leads to what I want to take some time to focus on. It's something that isn't necessarily preached on a lot. And I hope we take this to heart. It's a Christian virtue, really, and it's tact. That little four letter word, T-A-C-T, tact. Look at verse 11. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear. Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him. He refreshes the soul of his masters like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give. With patience a ruler may be persuaded and a soft tongue will break a bone. God is, yes, He's interested in truth and that we use truth, but we have to use it well. We have to remember that this book is a sword, but you have to learn how to wield your sword. You can cut. We can do damage to one another if we don't use it correctly. Many times I know I just want to be right. And there is something called being technically right, but the manner in which you do it is wrong. And so we need tact. That's why verse 11 says, It's funny when you read the commentaries on this one. They're like, well, what is an apple of gold? Is it an actual golden apple? Is it jewelry that looks like an apple? And there's like pages written on this. I don't think that matters. I think the point is it's beautiful, right? It's beautiful when someone speaks to you a word in due time. At the right season, wisely chosen, wisely timed words are beautiful, soothing, and have a refreshing effect. The same thing I run into in verse number 13. Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest. They're like, you know, how could that be? Look at chapter 26, verse 1. Chapter 26, verse 1. Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool. So the commentators are like, all right, snow in harvest is not good, because if snow covers your farm, obviously you can't do anything. It'll kill your crops. So there's a lot of speculation. But again, do we have to really speculate? Some people say, well, maybe they take snow from the snow caps, and they put it in their drinks as ice cubes, and it's really refreshing. We could go on forever about what that actually means, but the point is, it's a good thing. It's a refreshing thing. It's maybe in the heat of the harvest day, there's a cold breeze that comes from the snow. Whatever it is, the author of Proverbs, inspired by the Spirit, is telling us what? That a faithful messenger refreshes us. A word that comes in the right time is refreshing. It's encouraging. It's life-giving. Just like the fitly spoken word in verse 11. Think about Jesus' timely words, right? When his disciples were losing all hope, and in one word he just says, Mary. What a timed word. Or how many times Jesus said to his disciples, fear not. In John 14 when they said, Lord, we don't know the way. What did Jesus say? I am the way, the truth, and the life. To the woman at the well, he said, I am he. To Lazarus, he said, Lazarus, come forth. To Nicodemus, he said, you must be born again. These are all timely, carefully chosen, refreshing words. The need for tact. We need tact when it comes to dealing with doctrine and truth, when it comes to dealing with people, and when it comes to dealing with circumstances. See, we love doctrine, right? And there's a lot of false doctrine out there. A lot. If we're susceptible to that, we can be carried to and fro. And we need to be on guard against false teaching. But even with dealing with this, we're gonna make judgments, we need to apply tact. We deal with people, right? I mean, the church is full of people. The church is people. You work with people. You live with people. And you're going to make judgments. You need tact. And we deal with circumstances. We deal with situations that come our way. And we're going to make judgments about what to do in these situations. We need tact. We need tact. I think it was tactful when the prophet Nathan went before David after David had committed adultery and murder and gave him a parable from the Lord. And at the end of the parable, what did he say to David? You are the man. It was convicting. It was to the point. It was illustrative. It was tactful. I remember one day when I was a teenager and I was just getting sort of growing in my Christian faith and I was very much influenced by music that was just very ungodly. And one time a pastor came up to me and he said, are you still listening to that music? I said, yes, sir. And in that church, we said, sir, a lot, which may need to be taken. And he said, you'll get convicted. And, you know, one might say, well, he should have told you to throw them all out. Maybe for other people, but he knew me. You'll get convicted." Within a week, I threw out all those CDs. It was tactful. He didn't skirt the problem. He addressed the issue, and he said, you'll get convicted. He saw the growth in my life. He knew the Spirit would convict me. And verse 15 tells us, a soft tongue will break a bone. So what is tact? Tact is sensitivity and diplomacy, but I must say at the outset, lest you think I'm saying something else, without compromise. I'm not saying to ignore sin, to sweep false doctrine under the rug, or just care about how people feel and their feelings. But tact is still something that this text, I believe, demands from you and from me. I was reading someone's thesis on tactfulness and here's what he said that was good. He says, as Christians we are holy but we ought not to be holy rollers. As Christians we might take the high road but we ought not get on our high horse. And as Christians we are aliens but we ought not to be alienating. One commentator says this, a glass is meant for a beverage, a trash can is meant for trash, an electric socket is meant for a plug, and a screw is meant for a screwdriver. All of these are good things when they're used properly, but if we were to try to use the trash can for a drink, or the screwdriver in the electric socket, what would be the result? The same thing that happens when we lack tact, the ability to put a good thing in its proper place. We at least leave a bad taste in someone's mouth, and at worst, we become dangerous. Good things in wrong places can lead to bad results. And again, it is not simply enough to do or say right, but we must have a right heart. We must pay careful attention to the place, the timing, and the manner in which we say or do it. That is tactfulness. William Hendrickson says, it is the skill which, without any sacrifice of honesty or candor, enables a person to speak the right word at the right time. The tactful person does not shirk his duty, even when he is convinced that he must admonish or rebuke, but he has learned the art of doing it without being rude. Now, I want to give some examples, but I will say to you at the outset, there is a time for bluntness. And if this proverb talked about bluntness and boldness, that's what I would focus on. It certainly does talk about rebuke, back in verse number, I just had it here, verse number 12 says, like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear, right? So the need to reprove, to rebuke, is certainly there. But the focus is also how to do it, and it's also on tact. So obviously there's a time to be blunt, right? When we're warning someone, when a child runs into the street, I hope you don't think about, how can I be tactful in this situation? I think you're going to run after that child and scream until the child comes back to safety. The same thing is when we're warning generally, speaking generally. I can stand here and I could speak to you about how homosexuality is wicked. I could say atheism is foolish. I can make those very bold pronouncements based on the word of God. I can say what the Word of God says, that liars shall end up in the lake of fire. He that does not have the Son has the wrath of God abiding on him. It's also important to be blunt when you protect those whom God has entrusted to you. As you protect your children from harm, as you protect your spouse, as parents protect their children, husbands protect their wives, as pastors protect the flock from wolves, it is time to be blunt. But understand there's also a place for tact. I want you to think of it as a doctor who's reporting bad news to his patient. Let's say you go for a test and the test is positive and you have cancer. Wouldn't it be cowardly if the doctor said, you're good to go, just because he doesn't want to offend you? That's the kind of society I think we live in now. We don't want to offend. But it would also be unloving for him to just say, you have cancer, see you next time. And it would be worse to laugh. It would be worse to say, I can't do anything about this. If he's a good doctor, what will he do? He will solemnly and seriously tell you the bad news. Sometimes you and I as Christians lack tact and here's some categories in which we do it. First of all, sometimes we say things that are just downright untruthful. A Christian cliche, a lot of these cliches are just not true. So please, I would ask you to avoid saying such things to some people, especially as they go through a hard time. Don't say, for example, God will never give you more than you can handle. That is not biblical. Matter of fact, that's a lie. God often gives us things that we cannot handle. That's why we depend on Him. God is the one who can handle the situation. So when you say to someone, and I suspect we wouldn't say it often here, but it is very popular in the Christian world, God will not give you more than you can handle. It's just a way to, I think, wiggle out of an uncomfortable situation. Someone goes through a tragedy and you say, God is just as surprised as you are about this. No, He's not. He's not. Or we can say, follow your heart. Just follow your heart. when the Word of God says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. But we also say things that are just empty, just so we can get out. You know, someone confronts you with something, maybe it's personal for them or personal for you. I'll keep that in prayer. It's truthful. The statement's truthful. Now, whether or not you're really going to keep it in prayer, that's up to you and God. I know how you feel. when you really don't. Sometimes you don't. And I'm telling you this because, you know, we often put a burden on ourselves that we have to always have the right answer. And sometimes you just need to be someone that listens. Or we use catchy one-liners. Or we misrepresent false positions. You know, when you see things like Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Well, that might make a nice bumper sticker, but tell that to your cousin who's struggling with his sexual identity. And just give him that one-liner, right? What does that do? Or, we misrepresent positions. We'll say things like, evolution is a lie, we didn't come from monkeys. Evolution, not that I defend evolution, I hope you understand that, but it doesn't teach that we came from monkeys. And I know it's a technical thing, but it teaches that monkeys and humans came from common ancestors. It's still wrong, but you can't misrepresent the position and find credibility. Sometimes we go overboard. We'll say things like, if you blank, then you're not a Christian. And fill in the blank with, watch this movie, vote for this candidate, like this preacher, celebrate this holiday, wear these clothes, shop at this place, whatever it might be. Pretty tactless when we do that, especially when we don't know where the person is in their Christian walk. Then there are times where we say truthful things, but we say them at the wrong times. And you can really cut somebody up with the Bible. So someone going through the loss of their loved one, it's obvious that the deceased never came to Christ. There's a time and a place to discuss hell, but perhaps not right away. It doesn't mean that we, again, we lie and we say, oh, they're in heaven. Of course not. You would never tell a lie. But you have to know the time and place. Someone confesses sin to you and instead of receiving it, you use it against them. And you continue to rebuke them when you know that they're repentant. I remember one time I went to a prayer meeting and I had sin, I had unforgiveness in my heart. And I asked the men who were in the room, I said, please pray for me because I'm having a hard time forgiving this individual. And someone just kept telling me, you need to forgive this person. I said, yes, that's why I'm here. I know what I need to do. Well, you need to forgive and started giving me all the Bible verses about you need to forgive, you need to forgive, you need to forgive. And needless to say, I didn't want to be at that prayer meeting too much longer. And I would also caution all of us, we believe in God's sovereignty. But don't harp on it in such a way that you're always comfortable with how God works. It's easy for us to say, God is sovereign, He's got this covered. Because someone going through a tough time, they don't quite see that. And what are you going to do, rebuke them? Say you're not a true believer of the doctrines of grace? I mean, do you really convince yourself that your belief in God's sovereignty keeps you comfortable every moment of the day? You never question God? I mean, if that's you, that's great. But that's not me. And I preach the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. But there are times when I don't understand what God's doing. And I get frustrated. And I believe you do too. And so when someone in the church or some friend is going through a tragedy, sometimes it's just good to be a shoulder to cry on. They need time to reflect. I hope you understand what I'm saying. It's not to preach false doctrine, it's not to get around the hard truth, but it's to know the time and the place and the manner in which things should be said. It's also how you handle disappointment or being upset. There was a few months ago, we had made a decision as elders about a certain ministry, and we didn't really consult someone that was in leadership, and the person came to us and said, you know, brothers, I think that could have been handled better. And I thought that was very humble of the person. They told us how they felt. We learned from that, I hope, and we'll try to do it better next time. I respect that so much more than just taking to social media and broadcasting your concerns in front of everybody without talking to those who upset you. There's a wrong way and a right way to handle being upset. You have the right to be heard. We want to hear from you. But you still are obligated to follow the biblical pattern. We often lack tact when we talk about giving advice to people. We'll say things like, well, do you feel led? Well, do you feel led is a very subjective thing. Just pray about it. Well, pray about what? Do you have peace in your heart? Or we say, search your heart. We say these things because they're so cliche and so easy to say. But I think what the Lord is calling us to is to be more specific, more caring, more tactful. See, verse 12 tells us that rebuke must be timely. And here's why. If you didn't hear anything else, hear this. It's because God is not hasty with us. If God was hasty with us, we wouldn't be here right now. Because the first time you ever sinned or said something foolish, that's it for you. God is long-suffering. Unlike the substitute teacher in the first school I ever worked at, who came from a Pentecostal background, who used to always say to everything, I rebuke that. A kid talks in class, I rebuke that. A PowerPoint wouldn't work, I rebuke that. Some of us were just like that all the time. I rebuke that, I rebuke that. Well, goodness. We need that. I need rebuke, you need rebuke. But I think I'm harping a little bit too much on the same thing. Time, place, and manner. You get it? Okay. I've said many foolish things in my life, and I'm sure I still will. But how do we solve this problem? Well, we see the command again in chapter 25. I'll read it one more time. Starting with verse 8, chapter 25. lest he who hears you bring shame upon you and your ill repute have no end. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear. Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him. He refreshes the soul of his masters. Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give. With patience a ruler may be persuaded and a soft tongue will break a bone. Brothers and sisters, this is our command. This is how we judge righteously. This is how we judge in all situations, not hastily, with patience, at the right time, to be refreshing. How do we get to that point? And I think really the best advice I can give for all of us is this. Jesus is our example. Jesus is the ultimate standard of tact. He was as well-rounded as they come. It's because He's God. And he gave us an example. When you study the interactions that Jesus had with everyone, from the crowds to the individuals, you will find tact on display. Jesus tells us how to judge rightly and how to speak rightly. He rebuked the Pharisees hard, but he didn't use the same tone with the woman caught in adultery. For the people that came to him with humility, Nicodemus and the rich young ruler, he told them the truth straight between the eyes. Yet, for the religious leaders of the day, he pronounced judgment on their heads. He overturned tables in the temple. Yet, he let John rest on his bosom. When John the Baptist started to doubt Jesus Christ, what did Jesus do? Did he rebuke him? No, he sent messengers to encourage him, not to quench his spirit, because Jesus will not break a bruised reed and he will not quench a smoldering wick, like so many of us want to do. Jesus is the one who says, love your neighbor as yourself. He's the one who sent out his disciples to be shrewd, to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. He is the ultimate standard of tact. When he was reviled, he did not revile back. When Judas betrayed him, he not only willingly surrendered to God the Father's will for his life, he healed the centurion's ear when Peter tried to protect him. While he rebuked Peter for suggesting he wouldn't go to the cross, he even said, get behind me, Satan. He also lovingly restored Peter after he denied Christ three times. Jesus knew when to be blunt, when to be sensitive, when to be bold, when to be sharp, and always knows the correct context and timing of how to give fitly spoken words. If you find yourself, like me, struggling with tact, I can think of nothing better than to make a study of Jesus' interaction with people. Tact is what we need for righteous judging. Tozer said, a Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself. A spiritual man is easy on others but hard on himself. John Flavel said, And we learn all this from this proverb here, to be considerate of others because we are first and foremost considerate of God's glory. Now let me close with the last point you see on your outline. Kings ought to have righteous judgment. We ought to have righteous judgment. Why? Because God has righteous judgment. God reveals truth. God is holy. He is slow to anger. He's our example. And how does that apply to us? Because God is the ultimate judge. See, we can fool ourselves. We can be tactless. We can be the most tactful person. But on judgment day, rest assured, there will be no more righteous judgment in the universe. than God himself as every mouth comes before his throne and babbles as to why they should be led into heaven or why they didn't believe in God. We're told in Romans 3 that every mouth will be stopped and all the world will become guilty before God. There is nothing that one can do in their own sinful condition to get out of the mess that we've created by sinning against a holy God. And rest assured, God will exact vengeance on that day. God's judgment is always righteous. There is not a person in hell that doesn't deserve to be there. God will judge us based upon His perfect standard of His holy law. God will reveal to us, if we're blind to this now, that we have indeed sinned and transgressed the laws of a holy God, and we deserve nothing but His pure and righteous condemnation. And because God is a righteous judge, God cannot simply sweep our sins under the rug and say, come into heaven. God cannot simply say, well, forget about it, it wasn't really a big deal. You know I want to be tactful, right? No. God is a righteous judge and He will deal with sin. Look at Matthew chapter 13 with me. Because this is another parallel to our passage. Matthew chapter 13. Back in our text in Proverbs chapter 25, We are told that the king ought to remove the dross from the silver and establish his throne in righteousness. Rest assured, God will do the same. Chapter 13, verse 40 says, Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear. Jesus fulfills Proverbs 25, He gets rid of the dross in His kingdom, and there is coming a day where all lawlessness, all sin, all lawbreakers will be cast into the lake of fire. And if you're here today, and you don't know the solution to that, let me proclaim to you the good news. Because it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And you will be righteously judged. On that day, you cannot accuse God of being tactless. You cannot accuse God of being too hasty or not being patient with you. He's been very patient with you. But on that day, He must execute judgment. But thank God that He also chose to pour out the wrath that I deserve upon His Son Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary 2,000 years ago. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God both is the judge and He is the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. So that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. There's nothing you can do to merit salvation with God. There's nothing you can do to move the hand of God and say, I've done this or I've done that, so Lord, please forgive me. No, you can only be forgiven on account of Christ. Because Christ is the perfect one. He's the Holy One. He's the Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty that we sung about moments ago. And He gives His perfect record to sinners who accept Him, and believe on Him, and repent of their sins. And He takes upon Himself their sins on the cross. And if you've never bowed the knee to Jesus Christ, today is the day of salvation. That you will humble yourself, and you will repent of your sins, and you will trust in Christ, and Christ alone for salvation. That's the righteous judgment of God. God righteously judged Christ for us on the cross. But for those who are apart from Christ, I tell you not happily that you will be judged according to your works, and you will be thrown into the lake of fire if you do not repent. Now let me leave you with just the application for us Christians, and it's really simple. Let us be tactful. Let us exercise this sensitivity and diplomacy, knowing when to be bold, when to have a soft spoken word, as Proverbs says. Let us do this taking into account how Jesus interacted with people. Why? Because the testimony of the church is at stake. Because the Gospel is already offensive. What I just gave you, the last 3-4 minutes, is very offensive to know that you're a sinner who stands before a holy God and you need the bloody cross to save you. I don't need to make it more offensive than it already is. People have said they don't even come to the faith because of tactlessness. Now that's between them and God, mind you, but this is one reason people report for not coming. And at the end of the day, it's the glory of God that is at stake here. So tactlessness, I believe, is the ultimate dross based on this text that we need to purge from ourselves in order to be effective Christians living in this world. And I will turn you to one last scripture to make that case. It's in 1 Peter 3, if you'll turn there. 1 Peter 3, and this is exactly what we talked about downstairs. I didn't plan it this way, the Lord apparently did, because what Peter says here is basically what Solomon says in Proverbs 25, about how do we give an answer? How do we judge? How do we make the right judgments on what's good and bad in situations, in doctrine, in people? Well, Peter answers this very, very similarly to what we just read in Proverbs. And so, let us look at 1 Peter 3, beginning in verse 8. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling. But on the contrary, bless. For to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil. and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it. with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile you or your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." Amen.